Why We Need Moses and the Prophets :: Luke 16:19-31
And (the rich man) said, ‘I ask you, therefore, father, that you might send (Lazarus) into my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may witness to them, and they won’t have to come into this place of torment.’
Then Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.’
But (the rich man) said, ‘No! Father Abraham! But if someone from the dead should journey to them, they might repent.’ (vv 27-30).
They don’t need to hear Moses and the prophets!
That was the rich man’s argument in our Gospel reading. In other words, We don’t need to be reminded of our history. We don’t need the Law. We don’t need to be reminded we are selfish sinners. We don’t need any promises. We don’t need real repentance. We don’t even need God. This poor rich man didn’t even think he needed the forgiveness of sins as he burned in the fire!
Why do so many of us think we don’t need to hear Moses and the prophets?
Why do so many of us think we don’t need the forgiveness of sins?
Are you ready to die?
Do you actually know if heaven is your home?
Are you like the rich man, thinking your faith is that of your father Abraham?
What is the source of your faith?
In our Gospel reading today, the rich man definitely was NOT ready to die. But he thought he was. The rich man thought he was one with Abraham, who was declared righteous by God through faith (Gen 15:1-6). But the rich man had a misplaced faith. He trusted in himself. He trusted in something he called faith. He trusted in his way of life. He trusted that his prosperity was a sign he was in good standing with God.
What a terrible tragedy awaits our world! Billions of people are going to die and find themselves in hell, crying out to someone other than God. Why? Because they trust themselves. Even while burning, they ignore how much they need God’s grace.
5.
Listen to Jesus today: When you die ... you will go either to heaven or to hell. Heaven and hell are real places. Angels and demons are real beings. And God really does deliver the forgiveness of sins on account of Christ. That’s why Jesus is telling us this story in Luke 16.
Some might call this a parable. But Jesus doesn’t. Jesus says, when a poor man named Lazarus died, he was carried by the angels into the arms of faith (v 22). When the nameless rich man died, he was buried and found himself in torment in Hades, separated from God by a great chasm forever (v 23). Lazarus is in the company of heaven. The rich man is alone in hell. No one is able to cross from heaven to hell, Jesus says. Hell is a place that awaits the devil and his minions, and anyone who is faithless (v 26; Mt 25:41).
To be sure, God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of this truth (1 Tm 2:4). But just as importantly, Jesus desires to wake all of us from the stupor in which we have been living our lives. There are too many people who act like they don’t need the forgiveness of sins. There are too many people who aren’t prepared to die. There are too many people who ignore that they are on the train bound for hell. They refuse to listen to Moses and the Prophets.
4.
So why do we need Moses and the Prophets? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are filled with promises. So too are the prophets. These books are filled with Gospel.
To be sure, Moses and the Prophets also teach us to love. Love the sojourner (10:19), YHWH says in Deuteronomy. Learn to do right, Isaiah adds. Seek justice. Make right the wrong. Provide justice for the fatherless. Plead the case for the widow (Isa 1:17). In other words, take a long, hard look at how we are failing to love our neighbor as ourselves. Saint John framed it this way: If anyone says that I love God, [all the while] hating his brother, he is a liar (1 Jn 4:20).
You don’t have to hold a grudge to be a hater. Hating is literally loving less than.
The rich man hated his brother. He proved that by ignoring the poor man at his doorstep. His whole life was consumed with the riches of his life. In his love of himself ... while ignoring the poor all around him, loving them less than ... while refusing to share his magnificent feast ... while isolating and separating himself from his brothers and sisters ... while convincing himself that people like Lazarus could fend for themselves ... he never realized or appreciated the gifts of grace that God was giving to him every day. And even in hell he didn’t recognize this truth.
Send Lazarus [to help me], he cried. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue (v 25).
What is sadder than this?
He is so alone, he doesn’t recognize where his help comes from.
3.
Brothers and sisters in Christ ... like the rich man ... when you die, you will NOT go to hell because you are rich. Nor will you go to heaven because you are poor. There is no sin in being rich. Nor is there virtue in being poor. There is no glory in being rich. Nor is there shame in being poor. The point of this story from Jesus is not whether you are rich or poor.
Before Abraham died, he was extraordinarily rich ... but he also had faith in YHWH, and it was counted to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). He trusted God so completely that he was not only prepared to sacrifice his son, the one he loved, but that God will provide (Gen 22:8,14).
So now, what are we to do?
Have we turned inward on ourselves, forcing the poor among us to fend for themselves?
Have we skipped the opportunities to share Jesus with each other?
Listen again to Saint John: He who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen (1 Jn 4:21).
2.
Therefore, in the name of Jesus, repent, every one of you ... that is, mourn your sin ... the sin of pride and selfishness among so many other, but also recognize how Jesus delivers to you the forgiveness of your sins ... by his grace through faith that he gives to you.
It is for this reason that Jesus has called you into his riches of his Divine Service. He has gathered you here to deliver the riches of his grace. First, he enlightens you with Moses and the prophets. Then he shares his magnificent feast that never ends. It is for our good and HIS glory.
After hearing and seeing that you were outcasts, Jesus left the richness of his father’s house for the poverty and shame of our cross. Because you couldn’t go to him, he came to you: He loved you more than. He did this so that he could take your shame ... and your pain. He ensured that the sores of your sins were nailed to his cross, where it died with him. He made sure it would then be buried, never to be heard from again. And now, He is risen! ... And ascended!
As the Augsburg Confession proclaims, People are [now] freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By his death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in his sight (Rm 3:21-26; Gen 15:6) (AC IV).
Again, the Concordia says, To obtain such faith, [God] instituted the office of preaching the gospel and administering the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the gospel (AC V).
1.
It all begins with Moses and the prophets. That’s what Saint Peter recognized on the Day of Pentecost. He started with the prophet Joel. We started with Moses. Together, it leads us to the cross and the empty tomb.
The result is we all became united in the same faith ... which is literally what communion is. Communion literally means with unity. In communion, we devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, which begins with Moses and the prophets. We then break bread, recognizing that Jesus is actually with us in the Lord’s Supper (Lk 24:31) and that he uses this meal to deliver to us the forgiveness of sins. Then we share that with each other. And we never stop praying (Acts 2:42).
Now we know that Jesus is our help, too, through the living water of Holy Baptism that Ezekiel told us about three weeks ago (Eze 36:22-28). Now we know that Jesus clothes you in his royal robes of righteousness foretold in Isaiah 61[:10]. And now we know that Jesus offers you the bread of heaven every day, as foreshadowed in Exodus 16. This is the feast that Isaiah says has no end (Isa 25:6, 55:1-2). All the prophets testify to this truth, and it leads to the forgiveness of sins and life in his name (Acts 10:43).
NOW WE KNOW WHY WE NEED MOSES AND THE PROPHETS
As Abraham concludes, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone from the dead were to rise (v 31).
He is risen ... In Jesus’ name.